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I realize that I’ve completely neglected this blog for about the last month. What can I say, it’s been a hectic few weeks. I had another little trip to Florida, a wedding and a sick cat. I wasn’t really focused on doing much movie watching or inventive cooking. So, tonight I’m going to review a movie that I didn’t see in the theater but that I rented tonight.

I decided to watch 42 tonight because I really should have seen it in the theater. So I cried once in about the first 15 minutes. The fact that there was a time where it was common to treat people the way Jackie Robinson was treated (especially in the south, no offense southern friends) makes me sick to my stomach. My mom told me stories about a road trip my grandmother took her and her siblings on down to Florida when she was young and they had never seen a “colored” bathroom or water fountain before. My mom went to ask my gram about it and got shushed very quickly. She was also told not to even DARE mention that they were Catholic as that was pretty much the same in the south as being African American in the 40’s and 50’s.

Anyway, back to the movie. Some of the interesting parts of the script was how the GM of the Brooklyn Dodgers asked him to be both an amazing player and a gentleman and not respond in kind when attacked or provoked. I can’t imagine how difficult it would have been to stand there and take being yelled at. I admit, I loved Harrison Ford’s portrayal of the GM, Branch Rickey. He was gruff and awesome and ahead of his time. He knew what he was doing, he knew that there were amazing athletes out there being overlooked because of their color and he was willing to make a HUGE leap to take baseball to the next level.

Jackie Robinson was played by Chadwick Boseman and he did a fantastic job. And though it was a smaller role, I adored Nicole Beharie who played Rachel, Jackie’s wife. One of the first scenes where she reacts to seeing her first colored bathroom and proceeds to walk right into the “white only” bathroom was fantastic. The amount of pressure put on Jackie Robinson to represent an entire race that was on the brink of a civil rights revolution was immense.

I know they always take liberty with stories when they write “based on a true story” scripts, but I’m sure that much of what was written was absolutely true. I enjoyed this movie, the dialogue seemed very real and the performances were all very good. The scene where the Phillies heckled him was true (I looked it up). And it was also true that that moment did more to unite the Dodgers than anything else.

There are three movies out right now that I’d like to see. The Butler, The Mortal Instruments and The World’s End. All very different, right?!